If you want to know what makes ISIS a slaughterer of Islam, Dr. Najih Ibrahim and Dr. Hisham Al-Najjar are your men. In the book “ISIS: The Knife That Slaughters Islam”, the authors report shocking facts about the world’s most merciless terrorist organization known as ISIS or ISIL or ‘Islamic State’ or Daesh; its roots, background and violent ideologies.

The authors excavate deep into the ISIS threat, shining a hard light on how this calamity has come about, and analyzing the suspicious roles of ISIS in regional and international conflicts. ISIS is merely a tool secretly driven by powerful elements that do not seek for the Muslim Ummah any sort of betterment, advancement or independence of will, strangling them into the sectarian conflicts and breaking their unity apart, the authors tell us.

Dr. Ibrahim and Dr. Najjar offer a set of important questions about ISIS, presenting a case study of ‘ISIS’—its roles and what is the hidden power behind it—on various aspects; political, strategic, intellectual, cultural, and constitutional legitimacy.

The authors devote four chapters of this book revealing the hidden face of ISIS, its background and its growth. They explain why ISIS is so successful at recruiting young people, how it has contributed to distort the civilized image of Islam and Muslims and how it has hindered the effective, positive cultural journey of Muslims in the name of Islam, Sharia and Jihad.

Like others, this book too presents the oft-repeated report that ISIS is originally based on the ideology of Takfeer (declaring someone a Kaafir or infidel) and suicide bombing as legitimate; the ideology that Al-Qaeda originally propagated in Mesopotamia, declaring all the Arab armies, icons and political parties as Kuffar, without any exception, just as it described all Shiites as Kuffar. It has been clear that ‘ISIS’ has surpassed even Al-Qaeda and does not believe in anything but killing as a way for the establishment of the religion and the state.

The idea of non-violent Takfir is widespread among the sects of Muslim community. However, it is unlike the Takfeeri ideology of ISIS that leads to violence, indiscriminate killing of innocent civilians and destruction of Muslim lands.

Like the Kharijites, ISIS describes the perpetrator of a major sin as a Kaafir and prosecutes the sinner. It does not accept any excuse from anyone, even if the sin is done by mistake or ignorance. It does Takfir of those who do not join ISIS or ‘the Islamic State’ and those who do not consider it “the state of Muslims”. According to ISIS, the Muslims not expressing their loyalty to the Amir or pledging their allegiance to him are Kuffar who are to be basically killed.

The book reports that the violent Takfeeris of ISIS describe democracy, political participation, elections and the devolution of power as forbidden [Haram] acts. According to their interpretation of the verse “And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the disbelievers” (5:44), all the rulers “who do not judge by what Allah has revealed” are Kuffar. So, on this basis, they make Takfeer of secularists, liberals, leftists, nationalists, Nazarenes and other Islamic movements which do not comply or pledge allegiance to the ‘ISIS’ and its Amir, in addition to doing Takfir of the supporters of the rulers and the institutions of their countries approximately at all levels; military, civilian, official, diplomatic, political, social, cultural and educational etc.

The authors say, “ISIS has unsheathed the knives to implement the Hudud, cutting off hands, slaughtering the hostages and civilians and spreading fear and panic in the hearts of the people who oppose it. In fact ISIS is only a tool and a knife in the hands of the rivals and foes of the Muslim Ummah; which is slaughtering Islam and ripping the body of the Ummah apart”.

The book poses a question: can ISIS outfit establish a state? It then answers that any organization that adopts the ideology of Takfeer and suicide bombing can never establish a state, as the Kharijites could not get success at establishing any state, despite having huge armies. Similarly, never can this Takfeeri outfit establish a state, because it has only the potential of bombing and destroying countries and not establishing any state. The ideology of ISIS is hostile towards all the people and legitimizes shedding their blood. It is also the reason that the countries or states throughout the world are mostly based on ideologies of pluralism and tolerance with others, regardless of religion, culture, caste and country. So, “if the violent Takfeeri ideology of ISIS happens to establish a state, the country will explode from inside, as it is like the bomb that may explode at any point of time”.

The authors adopt some juristic methodologies to tell the readers how Islam is innocent of those teachings that lead to killing civilians and of the violent acts perpetrated by ISIS and Al-Qaeda that issued a fatwa to kill every American and Jew. The holy companions fought the Romans and the Persians, but they never asked their armies to kill Roman or Persian civilians. The authors cited that whenever the armies of Hazrat Umar bin Al-Khattab [may Allah be pleased with him] set out for fighting, he would decree, “Fear Allah regarding farmers who do not wage war against you”. He pronounced the ruling to forbid killing the farmers who were “civilians in his times”, explaining the reason that “they are not combatants”, because Allah Almighty says, “Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you” (2:90). Explaining this verse the authors say, “those who fight us, we will fight them. But, it is forbidden to fight those who do not fight us”.

The interpretation of this verse [2:90] was first made by the prophet -peace be upon him- who, at the sight of a slain woman, said, “This is not one with whom fighting should have taken place” (Sunan Abi Dawud, Book 15, Hadith 193). This was followed by the several recommendations of the prophet [peace be upon him] and his rightly guided caliphs at various different occasions. For example, "Do not kill a child, nor a woman, nor a old man, nor a monk in monastery”, as all of them are civilians in the language of the international law originally presented by Islam more than 1400 years ago.

According to the authors, killing of civilians was not known to the Islamic jurisprudence since the advent of Islam until Al-Qaeda appeared to commit the greatest violation against Islam and issued fatwa [decree] of killing civilians, forgetting there are Americans, Muslims, Japanese or Chinese or those who are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause or those who love Arabs or those who have nothing to do with the politics. Let alone talking about differences among Americans and others here, the Al-Qaeda even forgot the message of the Quran in which Allah Almighty talks about the people of the book and says, “They are not [all] the same; among the People of the Scripture is a community standing [in obedience], reciting the verses of Allah during periods of the night and prostrating [in prayer]” (3:113). This is the justice of the Quran.

To elucidate this point further, the authors present an example that ISIS and its likes understand the Qur’anic verse “we have not sent you but as a mercy to the entire world” in a very strange manner i.e. “we have not sent you but as a slaughterer to the entire world” or “devastator to the entire world” or “destructive to the entire world”. Hardly will you find the ISIS and its likes report or cite any account of mercy, sympathy, compassion and affection.

The reason is that ISIS is living in a big fallacy. They claim that all verses of forgiveness, pardon, compassion, and religious pluralism have been abrogated by one “sword verse”. They make Islam appear as if this religion throughout its history after the descending of the sword verse did not and would never apply to others mercy or patience or forgiveness or alliance or acceptance of pluralism on the religious, political, moral, humane and juristic grounds.

The authors say, “ISIS has openly flouted the Islamic principles and its core values—the Shura, freedom, justice, equality, respect for diversity and pluralism, personal freedom, responsibility of the ruler, monitoring his performance and holding him accountable, in case he makes any mistake or transgresses or oppresses. ISIS has showed its adherence only to establish the criminal Hudud [plural of ‘Had’] which deal with the laws and punishments and are of non-basics [Juziyat] in Islamic Sharia. Such non-basics are not greater in rank than the importance of the higher principles and core values of Sharia that ISIS has abandoned and destroyed in order to present a distorted and limited image of Islamic rule —an image that has nothing to do with the system of government in Islam”. If such non-basics are presented in a twisted way, “they will cause a catastrophe, calamity and indelible historical condemnation.” The authors then assert that ISIS has twisted such non-basics. Therefore, if the scholars and the responsible people of Islam do not play their role in defending Islam and presenting to the world the ideal cultural models of the Islamic Sharia, the world in common and the Muslim community in particular will continue to face events of destruction and affliction.

This book seems to be intended for the new readers who have just now started learning about ISIS, and if so, this can hopefully meet their needs.

As for me, this book has not presented any new information or studies. However, I regard it as a significant work that offers some fine suggestions to the Arab world to cope with their searing ordeal. I completely agree with the authors when they opine that many Islamic preachers and politicians are living farther away from the reality of the people’s life and their needs. Our Muslim community has failed in exercising the Islamic ethics and morals; similarly, ISIS can never evaluate any of such morals, the authors tell us.

The finest thing about the book is that the authors have refuted several arguments of ISIS, citing the authentic and irrefutable evidences from the Qura’n and Hadith; which can help most of the gullible Muslim youth save themselves from falling prey to ISIS recruitment process.

A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Ghulam Ghaus is an Alim and Fazil (Classical Islamic scholar) with a Sufi background. He completed the classical Islamic sciences from a Delhi-based Sufi Islamic seminary Jamia Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia Zakir Nagar, New Delhi with specialization in Tafseer, Hadith and Arabic. He completed his Alimiat and Fazilat respectively from Jamia Warsia Arabic College, Lucknow and Jamia Manzar- e- Islam, Bareilly, U.P. He did his graduation in Arabic (Hons) and post-graduation (Arabic) from Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi.

When Vishank Singh took admission in Jamia Millia Islamia, he realized it would take him two hours to reach the campus from his present address in north Delhi. It, therefore, made sense for him to shift to a home closer to the university.

Though nobody from Vishank's family objected to him staying in what has often been described as a Muslim ghetto, he did attract some curiosity while shifting to Jamia Nagar. "The transport loader who was helping me shift got a little scared when he came to know the address. He said that only Muslims live over here," says Vishank.

Vishank stays in a flat situated in Ghaffar Manzil with two of his classmates. While one is a Bengali, the other happens to be a Kashmiri Pandit. Vishank doesn't believe in organized religion but he keeps a painting of Lord Krishna in his apartment.

I have never faced religious discrimination... My Muslim landlord has come to our flat several times but he never objected to Lord Krishna's painting in my room.

"I have never faced any religious discrimination in Jamia Nagar. My Muslim landlord has come to our flat several times but he never objected to Lord Krishna's painting which I've put up in my room," says Vishank.

Hailing from Kanpur city of Uttar Pradesh, Vishank earlier resided in the Muslim-dominated locality of Chamanganj in his home city. "I find the Muslims of Jamia Nagar to be far more progressive than the ones I've lived with before. I think that is because Muslims here have had access to education," says Vishank.

When the police came for identity verification of tenants at Vishank's accommodation, they were surprised to find three Hindu boys living together in Jamia Nagar.

"The policeman who was the same caste as me told us that if you face any difficulty then kindly contact me. But I never encountered any such problem," he adds.

However, the local police haven't been as gracious towards every resident of Jamia Nagar.

Photographer Javed Sultan was living with a friend in Jamia Millia Islamia's hostel when the infamous Batla House encounter took place in 2008. Post the encounter, Javed started feeling increasingly unsafe in the area.

"Random detentions were common. It was a very difficult period for everyone in Jamia Nagar, especially those who were living alone. I decided to move to Laxmi Nagar where a few of my relatives were staying," says Javed.

In Laxmi Nagar, he found his neighbours to be extremely good. He developed a very close bond with one of the families.

"But during Ramadan when I used to go for the Morning Prayer, some people looked at me as if I was an alien," says Javed.

Javed returned to Jamia Nagar after two years when he became a permanent employee of Jamia Millia Islamia. "It is better to live within your own community. I have friends and colleagues residing here. My office is also hardly one kilometre away from my place," says Javed. He says that he still doesn't feel entirely safe here but realizes that one can be made a scapegoat no matter where one lives.

Dismissing claims of Jamia Nagar being a centre of Muslim extremism and fundamentalism, he states that good and bad people can be found everywhere.

"People who say such things have heard stories and never got a chance to hang out with people of Jamia Nagar. Many non-Muslim students of the university live in Jamia Nagar. I guess they are all living happily," says Javed.

Javed feels that it is incorrect to label the whole of Jamia Nagar as a Muslim colony, but he does assert that one can find more educated Muslims here than in Old Delhi, Seelampur or any other Muslim-dominated area in the city.

In 2009, Gowhar Farooq moved from Srinagar to New Delhi. He was initially living in Lajpat Nagar but soon moved to Batla House.

"Lajpat Nagar was expensive. Also, as a person who heard Azaan (the Muslim call for prayer) five times every day in Srinagar, Lajpat was different," says Gowhar.

Gowhar believes that a preference for living alongside their community members is not restricted to Muslims. "Why should we question them if they (Muslims) do so? Other minorities also prefer living together. There is nothing wrong in it. Also, considering the communal tensions post the Babri Masjid demolition, Muslims prefer living among their community members," he adds.

Due to economic and security reasons-- as well as because of alienation and discrimination--many Muslims continue to dwell in localities where they are in the majority.

Investigations into the Indian module of Islamic State (IS)-inspired Junood-al-Khalifa-e-Hind, is leading a trail to Dubai.

Bhatkal resident Ismail Abdul Rauf, who was wrongly intercepted by the intelligence agencies at Pune airport recently, may not have been a wannabe IS recruit or a Syria-bound jihadist. His interrogation, however, has given leads to investigators on missing links that could be a part of the large jigsaw puzzle, including the alleged IS fighter Shafi Armar alias Yousuf al Hindi, and how he purportedly funded to raise an Indian-affiliated jihadi group through Dubai.

Known as the mecca of money laundering or hawala operations, Dubai, along with other countries in the Gulf region, houses a large Indian diaspora. Importantly, various armed groups, including the IS, in the ongoing conflict in Syria are funded through a network of private donations, collected from sheikhs, tribal leaders, influential ulemas and Arab diaspora based in Gulf countries. These two factors could be a starting point in unraveling the funding of Junood-al-Khalifa-e-Hind group outside the Indian territory by the Indians living in Gulf.

The trail began in January, soon after the NIA arrested over 20 men in a nationwide crackdown after monitoring their social media activities. The arrested had common links of connection with al Hindi, who investigators believe is based in Syria with the IS group. During the raid at Mudabbir Sheikh’s Mumbra house, the police recovered cash of Rs 1.95 lakh. In his interrogation, Sheikh revealed that the amount was a part of Rs 6.4 lakh he received in two separate transactions through hawala operations facilitated by al Hindi. Sheikh is the only member of Junood Khilafa to have received money from al Hindi to set up the group, organise meetings and help other members logistically to manifest the operations.

He was put in charge of disseminating the funds to the other members based in Maharashtra, Karnataka, UP, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu – now in judicial custody – who never met each other personally, but confessed to have been roped in by al Hindi, NIA officials said.

Last November, Sheikh got the first intimation from al Hindi to receive a hawala transaction under the code name 'Nadeem'. In a few days, he received the sum of Rs 1.6 lakh from a hawala operator in Mumbai’s bustling bazaars adjoining the iconic Crawford market. With the test run of the first transaction successful, Sheikh was told to collect another delivery from another operator in a fortnight. This time the sum was larger, Rs 4.8 lakh.

Between December and January, when they were finally arrested, Sheikh’s cache of Rs 4.72 lakh was distributed upon al Hindi’s orders to various members including Malik Banda alias Mohsin of UP (Rs 3 lakh), Rs 50,000 each to Imran Moazzam Khan of Aurangabad, Mohammad Hussain Khan alias Jameel of Mumbai, Nafees Khan of Hyderabad who also gave a part of the funding to Ashik Ahmed of West Bengal (arrested in March). The money was used for travelling and purchasing mobile phones, laptops, and even clothes.

“The IS-inspired module in India has so far only one form of organised funding through hawala. The main suspect, al Hindi, seems to have thoughtfully picked out roles for each of the members like Sheikh for organising and financing without letting them know what the other was doing. This was obviously done to avoid detection by intelligence agencies and getting caught,” said an NIA official.

Rauf’s arrest at Pune airport, triggered by a lookout circular issued in a similar phonetically sounding name earlier in April, turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. Rauf, who was travelling to Dubai, was not the IS suspect the NIA was looking for, but his interrogation revealed details that investigators believe join the dots in the funding and hawala transactions.

Rauf had earlier travelled to Dubai 10 months ago to work as a labourer and came into contact with another Bhatkal resident, Ismail Nanda. During the time of their acquaintance, Nanda asked Rauf if he knew any hawala operators in Dubai and the latter gave contact of an operator, Abdullah Umaid. Officials investigating the case said Rauf was later contacted by Nanda and asked to check if 'Nadeem' (code name for Sheikh’s hawala transaction) got the money. Rauf did not know who Mudabbir Sheikh was but it is believed that Nanda used the hawala operator in Dubai, suggested by Rauf, to make the transaction.

Rauf was earlier a suspect in the case, but NIA has now made him a witness and are verifying the information provided by him. The agency is also making use of the mutual legal assistance treaty (MLAT) with Dubai to dig deep into Nanda's identity and find if he facilitated the hawala transactions to India at the behest of al Hindi or any other IS leader. If substantiated, it will take the investigation closer to proving that al Hindi used the IS group’s funds – collected illegally by smuggling and selling oil, antiquities, collecting taxes from population living in its territory, ransom and selling Yezidi women as slaves among other methods – to raise a module in India.

The anti-government armed militant groups have not commented regarding the reports so far.

The Afghan security forces have stepped up counter-terrorism operations amid rampant Taliban-led insurgency across the country which follows as the group announced its spring offensive earlier this month.

British extremist preacher linked to Lee Rigby killer emerges as head of Islamic State in Somalia

29 APRIL 2016

A British extremist preacher linked to the killers of Drummer Lee Rigby has surfaced in an Islamic State propaganda video as the head of its new franchise in Somalia.

Sheiky Abdulqadir Mumin, who preached at mosques in London, fled to Somalia after being investigated by M15 for radicalising young men with his fiery sermons.

The henna-bearded militant, who burned his British passport on arrival in Somalia, has now re-emerged in a video shot in northern Somalia in which he leads a faction pledging allegiance to Isil's Iraqi leader, Abubakr al-Baghdadi.

In the 15-minute broadcast, he presides over a group of heavily-armed fighters as they raise the black Islamic State flag and perform military drills in a remote mountain area.

Mumin's presence in Somalia is likely alarm British security chiefs, given his alleged record as a recruiter of young Muslim radicals for the cause of violent jihad in Somalia and elsewhere.

The cleric was a visiting speaker at a mosque in London around the time it was attended by Michael Adebolajo, one of the two men jailed for the meat-cleaver murder of Drummer Lee Rigby at Woolwich Arsenal in 2013.

Mohammed Emwazi, the militant better known as Jihadi John, is understood to have occasionally attended the same mosque.

Somali-born Mumin, who arrived in Britain around ten years ago, is also believed to have done "outreach" work on the streets of south-east London, reaching out to troubled youngsters like Adebolajo.

He is understood to have tried to recruit at local "mafrishes" - meeting places where members of the area's Somali community would gather to chew the narcotic qhat leaf.

Both Adebolajo and Emwazi made failed attempts to join extremist groups in Somalia, where Mumin retained strong contacts with radical groups.

In 2010, Mumin also took part in a press conference alongside the ex-Guantanamo Bay prisoner Moazzam Begg for the charity CagePrisoners, which was launching a report criticising Western anti-terror tactics in East Africa.

CagePrisoners's research director, Asim Qureshi, was criticised last year after describing Emwazi as "a beautiful young man" who had been radicalised because of mistreatment by the security services.

In similar fashion, Mumin left Britain for good a few months after his appearance with CagePrisoners, complaining of harrassment by M15.

He then re-appeared in territory controlled by the al-Qaeda allied al-Shabaab group, where he was seen burning his British passport in a crowd of supporters in a mosque and dedicating his life to jihad.

A talented speaker who is considered to have an impressive grasp of Islamist theology, Mumin initially allied himself to al-Shabaab, which has fought an nine-year-long insurgency against the Somali government, as well as the 2013 Westgate shopping mall attack in Nairobi, which killed 67 people.

After the US killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011, he declared: “We will continue our holy war until we taste death like our brother Osama, or until we are victorious and rule the entire world."

Mumin is understood to have switched allegiance last year to the Islamic State, which has been making efforts to co-opt other jihadist movements around the world, including Boko Haram in Nigeria and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

While al-Shabaab remains powerful in Somalia, it has come under heavy pressure from US drone strikes and Western-backed African Union troops.

Dr Cedric Barnes, Horn of Africa Project Director at the International Crisis Group, told The Telegraph: "Isil's success has grabbed people's imaginations, and I thik with Mumin, switching allegiance to Isil may be a case of personal ambition, a chance to challenge al-Shabaab's dominance.

"Unlike a lot of radical scholars, he is also said to be well-educated - he is the real deal as a preacher and that makes him a bit of a catch."

Mumin is now thought to be holed up in the Galgala hills, a desolate area of keel-shaped mountains and thorny frankincense trees in northern Somalia Puntland region.

Also notorious as a haven for Somali a pirates, its caves are a favourite hiding place for armed groups and hostages.

While he is believed to have no more than a few hundred fighters at most at present, his faction is said to be offering monthly salaries of up to $400, according to the intelligence website IHS Global Insight.

That makes it the highest paying groups in Somalia - an important factor in a land where many fight for pay rather than principle.

According to Somali intelligence sources, he also has some powerful co-defectors from al-Shabaab, including Mohamed Dulyadin, a Kenyan militant believed to have been responsible for last year's attack on Kenya's Garissa University that left 148 dead.

His first broadcast in support of Islamic State was made last October, but was a low-key event via audio tape. By contrast, his new video broadcast appears to have been released by the al-Furat Media Foundation, a well-known outlet for Isil propaganda.

His main worry, now, however, will not just be avoiding US drone attacks. Al-Shabaab still sees itself as a loyal affiliate of al-Qaeda, and has been unleashing its feared secret police, known as the Amniyat, on anyone suspected of defecting to Isil.

Investigations into the Indian module of Islamic State (IS)-inspired Junood-al-Khalifa-e-Hind, is leading a trail to Dubai.

Bhatkal resident Ismail Abdul Rauf, who was wrongly intercepted by the intelligence agencies at Pune airport recently, may not have been a wannabe IS recruit or a Syria-bound jihadist. His interrogation, however, has given leads to investigators on missing links that could be a part of the large jigsaw puzzle, including the alleged IS fighter Shafi Armar alias Yousuf al Hindi, and how he purportedly funded to raise an Indian-affiliated jihadi group through Dubai.

Known as the mecca of money laundering or hawala operations, Dubai, along with other countries in the Gulf region, houses a large Indian diaspora.

IS recruiter’s first job for 2008 Ahmedabad blasts accused was translation of Baghdadi’s speech

April 29, 2016

“SIMI operative” Alamzeb Afridi was living undercover in Bengaluru as AC mechanic when Mohammed Shafi Armar, an Islamic State (IS) recruiter from Bhatkal in Karnataka and believed to be recently “killed” in Syria, asked him to translate a speech of IS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in Gujarati. Armar would later help Afridi, an accused in the 2008 Ahmedabad serial bombings and the 2014 Bengaluru’s Church Street blast cases, learn bomb-making, according to crime branch officials.

Currently in the custody of the Detection of Crime Branch (DCB), Ahmedabad, in connection with the 2008 blasts, Afridi has told interrogators that he was in touch with one Abdul Khan through Facebook. In the interrogation report (IR), accessed by The Indian Express, Afridi said Khan sent him a link through Kik Messenger on how to make bombs.

When Pakistani Ghazal singer Ghulam Ali was misbehaved with in Mumbai, Indian government duly apologised to the artist and his program was re-scheduled at Varanasi. On the contrary, when Kabir Khan was shown shoes and misbehaved with at Karachi airport, the Pakistan government did not respond at all and is still keeping mum over the issue.

The Muslim community in Agra strongly condemned the misbehaviour with producer-director of the movie Bajrangi Bhaijaan, Kabir Khan, claiming that Pakistan is a country of hatemongers where people have no respect for artists.

They argued that, when Pakistani Ghazal singer Ghulam Ali was misbehaved with in Mumbai, Indian government duly apologised to the artist and his program was re-scheduled at Varanasi. On the contrary, when Kabir Khan was shown shoes and misbehaved with at Karachi airport, the Pakistan government did not respond at all and is still keeping mum over the issue.

In a statement issued Wednesday, the Doha-based news network, one of the largest in the region, said that it had not violated regulations or deviated from professional and objective coverage.

Full report at: middle-east-online.com/english/?id=76570

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In Iraq, the Mosul offensive is off to a slow and shaky start

29-04,2016

From a sandbagged hilltop outpost here, you can see the front line of the Islamic State in the muddy brown houses of Al-Nasr, a village on the next ridgeline, about a mile-and-a-half west. The Iraqi army was supposed to have captured this target a month ago. But the offensive was repelled.

The battle for Mosul, about 35 miles north, must begin with the seizure of such Islamic State positions along the Tigris River. But the Iraqi army isn’t ready yet to take a small, well-fortified village such as Al-Nasr. So it’s hard to imagine that Mosul itself could be cleared by the end of the year, as the Obama administration has hoped.

The staging area for the Mosul battle is Makhmour, a few miles south of here. An Iraqi army division has set up its headquarters there, alongside Kurdish peshmerga fighters. U.S. combat advisers are in Makhmour, too, although they weren’t visible Thursday.

“I have limited forces,” says Maj. Gen. Najim Abed al-Jabouri, the Iraqi commander for the Mosul offensive. He has about 5,000 troops but says that he needs a force six times larger and an attack plan that hits Mosul from all sides. The recent political chaos in Baghdad has hurt army morale and made planning more difficult, he says. “We try to move toward the correct way, but the corruption in Iraq is very deep.”

Islamic State may exult in online portrayals of jihadis sweeping victoriously across Iraqi battlefields, but a camera recovered from the helmet of a dead fighter offers a contrasting picture of chaos and panic in a battle with Kurdish peshmerga.

A fighter named Abu Hajer is shown in footage seized by Peshmerga firing from one of three Islamic State armored cars advancing across a barren plain towards a Kurdish position. His rifle slips and he fires off a shot inside the vehicle.

"Abu Hajer! Stop firing!" shouts Abu Radhwan, the camera in his helmet picking up anguished faces as it swings erratically from views of rifles and munitions on the floor of the armored car to the brown fields and blue sky ahead.

It was just another skirmish in an historically violent part of Iraq that, aside from the few dozen fighters who died, would not normally raise concerns far beyond the township's borders.

But the recent confrontation in the northern Iraqi city of Tuz Khurmatu signals a significantly larger problem facing a central government in Baghdad already on shaky footing as it tries to hold together a political and military coalition it desperately needs to defeat the Islamic State group threat.

Hostilities broke out over the weekend between two groups considered critical components of the ground war. Troops from the predominantly Shiite Muslim militias – known as the popular mobilization units or PMUs – reportedly attacked the home of an officer with the Kurdish fighting force known as the peshmerga, according to media reports. The militiamen claimed they were retaliating against an unprovoked peshmerga attack.

Fighting escalated into Sunday as peshmerga troops launched mortars and Shiite militias lit two of the Kurdish unit's tanks on fire. Iraq's ambassador to the U.S. described the incidents as unfortunate and in an area "where longstanding fault lines exist."

BAGHDAD (AP) — Abu Jassim can only afford to provide one meal a day for his seven-member family — usually a stew made of locally grown leafy green vegetables or rice with a small portion of flat bread.

"We are experiencing the agony of starvation for the first time in our life," said Abu Jassim, a 52-year-old grocer and resident of the besieged Islamic State-held city of Fallujah.

In reality, nobody seems to be starving in Fallujah just yet. But medical officials say malnutrition is on the rise and vital medical supplies are running out.

Since August, Iraqi government troops have tightened their grip around Fallujah — under IS control since the early days of 2014 — and have prevented the entry of food and medicine into the city. Those seeking to flee the city have sometimes found themselves trapped by the militants, who seek to retain Fallujah's civilian population as human shields against a full-scale government assault.

ARG Palace AfghanistanKabul has reacted towards the visit by a delegation of Taliban group leaders to Pakistan shortly after the group announced the delegation will hold talks on refugees and border issues with the Pakistani authorities.

A statement by ARG Palace said the visit by Taliban delegation from Qatar to Pakistan is totally vague since the terror groups are not allowed to visit nations.

The statement further added that the delegation recently visited Pakistan and called the purpose behind their visit to focus on refugees and border issues.

Kabul insisted that the majority of the Afghans have been forced to flee the country due to the crimes of the terrorists groups, specifically the Taliban group.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani will receive a list of individuals sentenced to death over terrorists activities, days after President Ghani vowed to implement the judiciary institutions’ verdicts regarding the terror suspects.

Deputy Presidential Palace spokesman Shah Hussain Murtazvi told reporters that President Ghani has ordered the judiciary institutions to further review the cases involving sentences awarded to the individuals for terrorists activities.

Murtazvi further added that the list will be provided to President Ghani today, insisting that the terrorists would be hanged to death once the cases have been reviewed in a bid to ensure fairness in the verdicts.

The decision to review and implement the judiciary institutions’ verdicts regarding the terror suspects was taken days after Kabul was hit by a deadly attack.

Afghanistan and Russia military committeeThe Afghan and Russian defense officials have agreed to establish a military-technical cooperation committee in a bid to jointly combat international terrorism.

According to reports, the agreement was reached during a meeting between the acting Afghan defense minister Masoom Stanikzai and his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu.

“A number of specific steps and issues have been discussed, such as further training of Afghan servicemen in Russia, the exchange of intelligence, and the creation of a joint committee on military-technical cooperation,” Stanekzai quoted by local media said.

Stanikzai further added that the two countries want to combine their efforts in the fight against the international terrorism.

British extremist preacher linked to Lee Rigby killer emerges as head of Islamic State in Somalia

29 APRIL 2016

A British extremist preacher linked to the killers of Drummer Lee Rigby has surfaced in an Islamic State propaganda video as the head of its new franchise in Somalia.

Sheiky Abdulqadir Mumin, who preached at mosques in London, fled to Somalia after being investigated by M15 for radicalising young men with his fiery sermons.

The henna-bearded militant, who burned his British passport on arrival in Somalia, has now re-emerged in a video shot in northern Somalia in which he leads a faction pledging allegiance to Isil's Iraqi leader, Abubakr al-Baghdadi.

The U.S. defense chief admitted on April 28 that the Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its militia force, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), were linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).

During testimony before a Senate panel, Ashton Carter said “yes” when asked by Sen. Lindsey Graham whether the PYD and YPG were aligned with the PKK.

Admitting the link between the PKK and PYD, Carter acknowledged that the PKK is a designated terror group by the United States and Turkey but denied Ankara is upset by U.S. air and equipment support to the militant group’s offshoot in Syria.

“It is not at all,” Carter said. “We have extensive consultations with the Turks.”

But Graham contradicted him saying he was recently in Turkey and that the government there was not happy with U.S. support for “a terror group.”

A soldier who was heavily wounded during clashes between the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and Turkish security forces succumbed to his injuries on April 29 in the southeastern province of Şırnak.

Gendarmerie Specialized Sergeant Turan Çelik was wounded during security operations on April 26.

Çelik was taken to the Gülhane Military Hospital (GATA) in the capital Ankara after he was hit in the head by a bullet.

His funeral was due to be held in the southeastern province of Adıyaman on April 29.

Five mortar shells targeting a border military post in the Karkamış district of the southeastern province of Gaziantep were fired on April 28 from the Jarabulus province in northern Syria, controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

“One of the artillery shells that landed near the Türkyurdu border military post hit a howitzer stationed on the border. There was minor damage to the howitzer and there were no casualties. ISIL positions were shelled by howitzers following the incident,” Gaziantep Governor Ali Yerlikaya said, adding that three of the shells landed in an empty field.

A small fire also broke out on the roof of the border post but was extinguished by firefighters.

Security sources stated that a group of ISIL militants who were spotted by drones and radars had been killed by Turkish forces.

Two rocket projectiles fired from the Bab region of northern Syria under the control of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) hit the border province of Kilis on April 29, adding to the latest rocket strikes by the jihadist group in the region.

Two Katyusha rockets exploded in quick succession in a field near the Öncüpınar Kilis motorway at around 6 a.m. creating a crater. No injuries were reported in the incident.

A number of security and health personnel were deployed to the scene following the incident.

Teams made investigations in the field as security measures were taken in the area.

Israel worries about Isil terrorists on northern border, within 20 miles of town of Safed

28 APRIL 2016

Israel is increasingly concerned about the presence of Isil terrorists on its north-eastern border in the occupied Golan Heights – only 20 miles from the town of Safed.

The Yarmouk Martyrs Brigade has declared allegiance to Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-styled “caliph” of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). This group has between 600 and 1,000 fighters within striking range of Israel.

They are located in the southern Syrian Golan Heights, near the triangle where the Israeli, Jordanian and Syrian borders meet. “We are observing and watching them to make sure there are no surprises,” said Major Arye Sharuz Shalicar, an Israeli military spokesman.

One kibbutz is located only two miles from the area where the group’s fighters are said to be stationed; the town of Safed, with a population of 27,000, is only 20 miles away.

Israeli defence officials are worried that this Isil unit may have acquired poisonous gas from Bashar al-Assad’s regime. If the group approaches an “experimental or operational capability with chemical weapons,” then Israel will take action, according to anonymous officials quoted by Channel 10 television.

More than 100,000 people gathered in Diyarbakir, the main city in Turkey’s predominantly Kurdish southeast, last week to mark the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. The gathering was one of the most powerful displays of the rising power of Islamists in the region, which is stoking tensions with the pro-secular Kurdish nationalist movement.

Young and old came from all directions, chanting "God is great" and "Islamic Kurdistan.” It was a powerful show of force by Islamists. Leading Kurdish Islamists and others from elsewhere in the Middle East attended the rally. One of the biggest cheers was given to a Hamas representative.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has concluded a military agreement that involves the deployment of the Turkish Armed Forces in Qatar, during his official two-day visit to the Gulf nation.

The measure was signed by Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz and his Qatari counterpart Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah at a ceremony where Davutoğlu and Qatari Interior Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani were also present.

According to reports, the Turkish prime minister is expected to visit the command post of Turkish ground troops in Qatar on April 29.

A London-based Muslim preacher has demanded a formal apology from the British premier for labeling him a ISIL supporter in the parliament in the run-up to the mayoral elections.

In an exclusive interview with Anadolu Agency Thursday, Suliman Gani said he was shocked by Prime Minister David Cameron’s allegations, which he described as racist and Islamophobic.

“I could not believe it. I was really, utterly, deeply shocked. How is it possible for such a serious, serious, allegation [can be] made against myself.

“What was even more shocking was being singled out, my name to be mentioned. It is not an ordinary personality, it is the prime minister of the country. That I found it very, very Islamophobic, very racist,” Gani said.

Teachers and other staff at some independent Islamic faith schools in the UK are facing gender-based segregation, prompting the country's schools watchdog to write to the education ministry.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, head of Ofsted, said his inspectors found one independent religious school using dividing screens across the room to segregate men and women.

"I am writing again to report that Her Majesty's Inspectors (HMI) continue to find that staff are being segregated because of their gender in Muslim independent schools," Wilshaw writes in his letter sent yesterday to UK education secretary Nicky Morgan.

It adds that officials who inspected Rabia Girls' and Boys' School in Luton, east England, expressed their concern after the school insisted on "segregating men and women through the use of a dividing screen across the middle of the room" at the initial meeting.

"This meeting was not carried out in a religious setting but in a classroom. HMI also gathered evidence that male and female staff are segregated during whole school staff training sessions.

When Jean-Baptiste Michalon posted a notice on the outside of his general store last year, he hardly imagined that it would create a national outcry.

"Sisters on Saturdays and Sundays only," the note read. Michalon's message to customers in the French city of Bordeaux: Women were welcome only on weekends. Men could shop on weekdays.

On Tuesday, a court fined Michalon $560 for making such a distinction, despite his argument that he had posted the sign to protect his wife, who was also working in the store, and other women.

"We put this in place at the request of the sisters who preferred when my wife was behind the counter. It is a shop where we sell clothes," Michalon, who converted to Islam four years ago, told the French news agency Agence France-Presse last year.

Following the outrage created by his note, the Frenchman closed his store and "admitted it was a blunder and tactless," according to a statement from his lawyer.

Italian police issued arrest warrants on Thursday for six people suspected of conspiring to join Islamic State, and court documents said three of them had been discussing possible attacks on the Vatican and the Israeli embassy in Rome.

Four of the suspects - a couple living near Lake Como, a 23-year-old-man and a woman, all of them Moroccans - were detained in Italy on Thursday, Milan prosecutor Maurizio Romanelli told a news conference.

The other two - a Moroccan man and his Italian wife - left Italy last year, traveled to Iraq and Syria and are still on the loose, Romanelli added.

Italy has not suffered the kind of deadly Islamist attacks that hit France and Belgium, but authorities have arrested a number of people suspected of planning assaults.

Transcripts of wire-tapped phone conversations between three of the suspects, contained in the arrest warrant and seen by Reuters, mentioned the possibility of an attack against the Vatican and the Israeli embassy in the Italian capital.

Full report at: reuters.com/article/us-italy-security-idUSKCN0XP13S

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Security guard who tweeted support for Islamic State jailed for five years

Fri 29 Apr 2016

A security guard who glorified Islamic State and the September 11 terrorists has been jailed for five years.

Mohammed Moshin Ameen, from London, admitted to using Twitter to encouraging acts of terrorism and inviting support for Islamic State.

The court heard between March and October last year, he used 42 different Twitter profiles to send 8,000 messages, of which 250 were found to be extreme.

The 23-year-old became radicalised after falling in with well-known radical figures within the community, including some who went on to be convicted of terror offences, the court heard.

He exchanged views on Islamic ideology with Sydney teenage terrorist Farhad Jabar, discussing their shared desire to travel to IS territory.

Ameen first came to the attention of authorities in December 2013 when it was believed he might try to go to IS-held territory.

John Kerry stopped by the Baker Institute for Public Policy at Rice University to address the role of religion and terrorism offering groundbreaking ideas such as, "The more we understand religion and the better able we are as a result to be able to engage religious actors, the more effective our diplomacy will be in advancing the interests and values of our people."

But Kerry warned, "Disclaimer: It is absolutely true the State Department is a secular institution and that, from its founding, the United States has maintained a formal separation, obviously, between church and state, and nothing that we’re doing seeks to or does cross any of those lines. This means that in our foreign policy, we don’t advocate on behalf of any particular set of religious beliefs or express a preference for one faith over another – or even for religious belief over non-belief."

That must be why the entire administration is constantly promoting Islam to the point of Obama telling the head of NASA that his main mission is Muslim self-esteem. But this is followed by boilerplate screeds about how wonderful Islam is, how wrong it is to criticize many Muslims for the actions of a tiny minority and how we're beating ISIS. Which he insists on calling Daesh.

The US military's secretive Cyber Command (Cybercom) is working to destroy the Islamic State group's Internet connections and leave the jihadists in a state of "virtual isolation," Pentagon chiefs said Thursday.

In what he described as the command's "first major combat operation," Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Cybercom is playing an important role in the US-led military operation against the IS group in Iraq and Syria.

"The objectives there are to interrupt ISIL command and control, interrupt its ability to move money around, interrupt its ability to tyrannize and control population, interrupt its ability to recruit externally," Carter told lawmakers at a Senate Armed Services Committee meeting, using an acronym for the IS group.

The Daily Show is an American late-night talk and news satire TV program. It is aired on Comedy Central each Monday through Thursday. Hasan Minhaj is an American actor, comedian, and a senior correspondent on The Daily Show. As part of his show, he did a street interview to find out if the Americans know about the Sikh religion. He showed a few Americans he randomly met on the street, the picture of a Sikh, a bird, a binocular, and children playing hide and seek, and asked them to point out the Sikh. Most of them failed to identify the Sikh. Sikhs Appear on ‘The Daily Show’ to Combat Islamophobia TWEET THIS The same has been the case in a survey commissioned by the National Sikh Campaign (NSC), in 2014. The problem with this scenario is that most of the Americans who have no idea who the Sikhs are, assume that they are Muslims. In their ignorance, they treat a Sikh person the same way they treat a Muslim person, with extreme prejudice and hatred. Of course, not all Americans are Islamophobes. The above statement only refers to those Americans with anti-Muslim sentiments.

BAGHDAD — In an unannounced visit shrouded in secrecy, Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. came to Iraq on Thursday for the first time in almost five years, hoping to help a weak prime minister and bolster the military campaign against the Islamic State.

The intense security and clandestine nature of the trip reflected the challenges Iraq still faces 13 years after the United States-led invasion. Mr. Biden arrived for the visit, which was under discussion for months, at a moment when the country’s political leadership is mired in yet another crisis.

Mr. Biden planned to urge the Iraqis to put the good of their nation above sectarian, regional or personal interests as the country confronts a constellation of threats: militarily, from the extremists of the Islamic State; economically, from low oil prices; and politically, from the stalemate between Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and Parliament over Mr. Abadi’s efforts to reconstitute his cabinet.

After arriving at the American Embassy by helicopter, Mr. Biden was driven to the nearby Government Palace to meet Mr. Abadi.

John Andrew Morrow, a professor of foreign languages at Ivy Tech Community College Northeast in Fort Wayne and a Muslim scholar and cleric, recently was presented with the Interfaith Service Award by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) for his efforts to encourage interfaith dialogue and cooperation.

The award was presented April 15 during the Sunni-Shiite Summit held in Washington, D.C. Sunni and Shia are the major subgroups within the Islamic faith. ISNA is the largest Muslim organization in North America.

WASHINGTON, United States—The United States, a familiar rescuer of the Kurdistan Region, is helping the region to get out of its financial crisis.

Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter announced last week the US will send $415m to help cover the needs of the Kurdish Peshmerga who are fighting the Islamic State (ISIS).

From now on, the Pentagon says, the Peshmerga will receive monthly financial aid.

This allowance does not of course fulfill the financial needs of Kurdistan, which spends nearly a billion dollars a month. But it does help the Kurds to continue their fight against the Islamic States’ terror.

Following Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif’s call for across-the-board accountability, the complex civil-military relationship is in the spotlight once again.

The well-timed dismissal of six army officers – including one Lt-General and a Major-General – on charges of corruption, is being seen by many defence and political analysts as a move directed at pressuring the civilian side to act.

The military’s checkmate move came after the release of the Panama Papers, which revealed that the prime minister’s three children – two sons and a daughter — own offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands.

Following the political storm that erupted once news of the offshore companies became public, the army chief’s statement calling for across-the-board accountability is said to have strained ties between the civil and military establishments. No longer was it possible for anyone to claim that both sides had reached an understanding of sorts to not interfere in each other’s domains.

Abu Dhabi—Pakistan is stepping up its use of Sharia-compliant financing to fund infrastructure deals, which could help to promote the use of longer-term transactions in Islamic finance. Islamic deals are backed by specific assets, which makes them convenient for infrastructure projects. But traditionally, Islamic bonds and loans have shorter tenors – often around five years – than their conventional equivalents.

This is partly because Islamic markets are generally not as deep and liquid, and products are not as standardised. Also, Islamic banks mostly hold short-term deposits on their books. This month, however, Pakistani banks arranged 100 billion rupees ($955 million) worth of 10-year Islamic bonds (Sukuk) for a hydropower plant, the largest infrastructure deal to use Islamic financing in the country. Opportunities for similar deals are growing with $45 billion worth of domestic infrastructure projects planned by Pakistan’s government under an initiative dubbed the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), agreed between the states in 2014.

KARACHI: A private television channel's team was arrested from Sindh Assembly premises on Friday after a team member took a gun inside the house apparently in order to expose substandard security arrangements at the building.

A team member concealed the weapon in his clothing and entered the house. Once inside, he presented the weapon before the speaker, shocking lawmakers.

Sindh Assembly opposition leaders were critical of the provincial government and those responsible for the building's security. Speaker Agha Siraj Durrani demanded an inquiry into the matter.

The National Counterterrorism Agency ( BNPT ) is investigating widespread information of a “significant increase” in the number of Indonesian citizens working in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan who have become supporters of the Islamic State ( IS ) terror group.

“Until today, we do not yet have accurate information about it. We are still investigating it,” BNPT head Comr. Gen. Tito Karnavian said as quoted by Antara news agency in Beijing on Wednesday evening, local time.

News reports earlier revealed that IS was approaching Indonesian workers in Hong Kong to join the extremist group. A domestic worker from Indonesia told local newspaper Oriental Daily News that many workers from Indonesia had received leaflets about IS recruitment.

Asia One reported on Tuesday that in the leaflets IS claimed the Indonesians would be employed in Xinjiang, China. It was not clear what kind of jobs the group would offer, however.

JAKARTA — China has asked Indonesia to deport a suspected Uighur terrorist detained here since December and alleged to have links with Islamic State, authorities said Thursday.

"There was indeed a request from the Chinese embassy to deport a Uighur terrorist suspect currently under police detention," Foreign Ministry spokesman Arrmanatha Nasir said in a media briefing.

"We will see later whether we can meet their request after knowing his nationality," he said.

The man, identified as Alli, was arrested by counterterrorism police in December for allegedly planning to launch terrorist attacks during Christmas and New Year celebrations.

They said he had spent two months in Indonesian prior to his arrest before which time he was in Thailand and Malaysia.

Earlier this month, the Indonesian government turned down a request from China to exchange a fugitive Indonesian tycoon for four Uighurs currently serving six-year jail terms each for terrorism-related convictions.

A terrorist group in the Philippines that beheaded a Canadian this week had designs on kidnapping Manny Pacquiao, said President Benigno Aquino III, who added there was an assassination plot perhaps aimed at him, too.

Abu Sayyaf militants reportedly also wanted to explode bombs in metropolitan Manila to try to get funding from Islamic State, but the plans were uncovered and troops have reduced the group’s ability to inflict harm.

Though Aquino has forged a peace pact with a larger Muslim rebel group, he said there is no possibility of engaging in talks with Abu Sayyaf, which is accused of beheading Canadian John Ridsdel on Monday in southern Sulu province.

Damir Ahmetovic prays five times a day and describes himself as a devout Muslim. But he no longer attends his local Brisbane mosque for fear of vilification.

"The wider Muslim community is not aware that I am gay and I keep away from them," Mr Ahmetovic said. "I've made a choice to limit my contact with them. It's a self protection mechanism, I don't want judgment, hostility and negative responses to who I am."

The 31-year-old Bosnian national came out to his family a decade ago, an experience he says was fraught with difficulty. His father, who initially rejected him, said he would accept his son only if he kept his sexuality quiet.

Mr Ahmetovic said he knows "quite a few" gay Muslims in Brisbane but says they have rejected their faith since coming out.